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Kateri92
Guest
Is it a sin for someone to wear a bikini for her husband? Would it have to be only in his presence she is seen? (Asking for future reference.) Thanks and God bless!
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1ke
Guest
Please get some counsel from your priest.
Why would it be a sin to wear a bikini in front of your husband? Husbands see wives with no clothes on. So I am not sure why a bikini would be a problem.
Why would it be a sin to wear a bikini in front of your husband? Husbands see wives with no clothes on. So I am not sure why a bikini would be a problem.
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Convert_in_99
Guest
Why would your husband want other guys to “get to see” that which he is priveldged and happy to be the ONLY one who gets to see? I’d think he’d want you to wear a more modest swimsuit. 
Now if you had a pool or hot tub in your back yard, then you could wear a bikini “in public” for your husband.
Now if you had a pool or hot tub in your back yard, then you could wear a bikini “in public” for your husband.
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Hoosier_Daddy
Guest
Let’s nip this before it becomes a bikini thread and just examine the ridiculous notion that this dialogue happens.
“. Hey baby, I know we are going to the beach tomorrow and you have that nice one piece suit but I was thinking we could show you off to people. Could you please wear some waterproof underwear so people can see a lot more if you? It just looks better for my reputation…”
“. Hey baby, I know we are going to the beach tomorrow and you have that nice one piece suit but I was thinking we could show you off to people. Could you please wear some waterproof underwear so people can see a lot more if you? It just looks better for my reputation…”
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Convert_in_99
Guest
I agree. To do so would objectify his wife, turning her into a trophy wife.
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Boatswain2PA
Guest
Should you just wrap her up in a hajib? Ban her from wearing makeup? Require her to wear an olive green tutu all of the time?? Require her to have a related male as an escort any time she goes out of the house?
To each their own. If the wife and hubby likes it when she wears a bikini, then she should wear the bikini. If either one of them would rather have something more conservative, then she should wear something more conservative. If she wants a bikini and he wants a hajib, then they need counseling.
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twf
Guest
You raise a valid point. Where do we draw the line? These are culturally subjective matters. Most conservative Catholics in North America seem to condemn the bikini and laud typical one piece suits… Yer Catholics in 1850 would have condemned as “no better than street walkers” a woman who wore the one piece suits modern conservatives consider “modest”. That which conservatives consider modest today was too scandalous for prostitutes no so long ago. So in another century if the secular norm is to swim in the nude, will conservative Catholics laud the “modest bikini”? I can see it.
I’m not offering any suggestions or advice one way or another… Just pointing out how subjective and relative these debates are.
My wife is a very conservative Pentecostal from the Dominican Republic. She’s extremely strict on some issues (alcohol for example), yet never thought twice about wearing a bikini… Doesn’t seem to be an issue in her cultural / religious background. I bet you would be very hard pressed to find a Brazilian, protestant or Catholic, who takes issue with a bikini either. For better or for worse we North American Catholics have inherited some of the Puritanism of our protestant neighbours. Again- I neither condemn nor condone the bikini… But it is subjective.
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Jon_S_1
Guest
Great response.
In Europe it is common for men to wear a speedo which doesn’t cover much. And women often go topless. It is not considered immodest in that culture.
I think it is best to say, to each their own on this one. It is about the intent of your heart and why you are choosing to wear it.
I wore a speedo to swim in high school meets. I don’t believe it was immodest.
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Vico
Guest
Sounds like it is all about rights and nothing about charity to others that are easily tempted to lust. Christians are taught to avoid giving scandal (i.e., leading the weak into sin.)
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Jon_S_1
Guest
At what point do you draw the line on this and for what person. Plenty of men can be around women in bikini’s without lusting over them. Some men probably lust just seeing a women with pants and long sleeves.
So it is not necessarily uncharitable for a woman to wear a typical swim suit…
Do you wear a shirt in the pool?
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Graceful_Lamb
Guest
I think it depends on the people. If she is wearing it to please her husband, I don’t see anything wrong with that.
In my younger days, I wore a bikini. I wouldn’t dream of it now, because I don’t have the figure to wear one any longer.
In my younger days, I wore a bikini. I wouldn’t dream of it now, because I don’t have the figure to wear one any longer.
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LilyM
Guest
There are many one-pieces out there which show far more cleavage and backside than your average bikini.Why would your husband want other guys to “get to see” that which he is priveldged and happy to be the ONLY one who gets to see? I’d think he’d want you to wear a more modest swimsuit.
Now if you had a pool or hot tub in your back yard, then you could wear a bikini “in public” for your husband.
And I don’t think there’s anything about a woman’s stomach area (which is the only real point of difference between the two) that is especially reserved to a husband
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Vico
Guest
Prudence is an important virtue to be developed.
Temperance is a moderation to avoid pride and also to avoid giving scandal. Giving scandal is relative to the persons involved.
I don’t swim in a pool or the ocean. I cover up my upper body when I work in the yard or in the gym. The last time, a few years ago, that I worked on plants in a pond, I wore a black shirt in the water.
St. Thomas Aquinas wrote in Summa Theologica, Question 169. Modesty in the outward apparel
In point of excess, this inordinate attachment occurs in three ways. First when a man seeks glory from excessive attention to dress; in so far as dress and such like things are a kind of ornament. Hence Gregory says (Hom. xl in Ev.): “There are some who think that attention to finery and costly dress is no sin. Surely, if this were no fault, the word of God would not say so expressly that the rich man who was tortured in hell had been clothed in purple and fine linen. No one, forsooth, seeks costly apparel” (such, namely, as exceeds his estate) “save for vainglory.” Secondly, when a man seeks sensuous pleasure from excessive attention to dress, in so far as dress is directed to the body’s comfort. Thirdly, when a man is too solicitous [Cf. 55, 6] in his attention to outward apparel.
AND
I answer that, As regards the adornment of women, we must bear in mind the general statements made above (Article 1) concerning outward apparel, and also something special, namely that a woman’s apparel may incite men to lust, according to Proverbs 7:10, “Behold a woman meeteth him in harlot’s attire, prepared to deceive souls.”
Nevertheless a woman may use means to please her husband, lest through despising her he fall into adultery. Hence it is written (1 Corinthians 7:34) that the woman “that is married thinketh on the things of the world, how she may please her husband.” Wherefore if a married woman adorn herself in order to please her husband she can do this without sin.
But those women who have no husband nor wish to have one, or who are in a state of life inconsistent with marriage, cannot without sin desire to give lustful pleasure to those men who see them, because this is to incite them to sin.
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12345678
Guest
Uhm, then one shouldn’t wear the one-piece that shows far more than the average bikini either… It doesn’t make a bikini more modest, the fact that there are one pieces that aren’t modest!There are many one-pieces out there which show far more cleavage and backside than your average bikini.
And I don’t think there’s anything about a woman’s stomach area (which is the only real point of difference between the two) that is especially reserved to a husband
It’s kinda funny, because if you ask the average teen boy if the panel covering a girl’s stomach makes a difference, I have a feeling they would probably say it did. I’m not comparing immodest one piece to bikini, I mean a modest one piece vs a bikini…
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SusanneT
Guest
Speaking as a European, I would not say that just because some women go topless on the beach that from a Catholic perspective it can be considered in any way modest. The women who do it simply do not have a God focused concept of modesty and do it either for comfort, they would say, vanity, because they think it is ‘sexy’ or because they don’t accept (as feminists) that any standard of modesty should be ‘forced’ on them.
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EleanorArr
Guest
I can understand the quandary - pleasing one’s spouse on the one hand and the question of modesty on the other.
I guess it partly depends on the reason: if it’s just because ‘he likes looking at his wife like that’ (or, perhaps, ‘he likes’showing his wife off’, if you’ll pardon the expression)…I think that’s probably wrong (whether or not sinful is above my pay grade!).
On the other hand bikinis are these days so ubiquitous that if it’s partly motivated by a ‘I just wouldn’t want my wife to stick out too much’ sort of feeling - that’s much more understandable. I used to wear bikinis primarily for that very reason.
Without wanting to sound too puritan about it, there are generally acceptable standards of modesty and I do wonder whether bikinis in general cross the line into what’s un-acceptable.
A big part of me says ‘one should do what one’s spouse asks if it’s not entirely immoral’, but I also think the motivation for it has to come into consideration.
I guess it partly depends on the reason: if it’s just because ‘he likes looking at his wife like that’ (or, perhaps, ‘he likes’showing his wife off’, if you’ll pardon the expression)…I think that’s probably wrong (whether or not sinful is above my pay grade!).
On the other hand bikinis are these days so ubiquitous that if it’s partly motivated by a ‘I just wouldn’t want my wife to stick out too much’ sort of feeling - that’s much more understandable. I used to wear bikinis primarily for that very reason.
Without wanting to sound too puritan about it, there are generally acceptable standards of modesty and I do wonder whether bikinis in general cross the line into what’s un-acceptable.
A big part of me says ‘one should do what one’s spouse asks if it’s not entirely immoral’, but I also think the motivation for it has to come into consideration.
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Aggie414
Guest
Caveat: I do not wear bikinis because I am modest and don’t like to wear them PLUS I so do not have the body to wear a bikini
That being said, I do not think it’s my responsibility for others’ sins. By that I mean if me wearing a bikini or any other item causes another to lust, that’s on them, not on me – assuming it’s perfectly appropriate to the setting. Wearing a bikini to Mass, WAY INAPPROPRIATE; wearing a bikini to a beach, appropriate. Maybe if seeing a lady in a bikini leads some to sin in their heart by lusting after them, maybe they should remove themselves from the situation and not blame the person wearing the bikini for their shortcomings.
That being said, I do not think it’s my responsibility for others’ sins. By that I mean if me wearing a bikini or any other item causes another to lust, that’s on them, not on me – assuming it’s perfectly appropriate to the setting. Wearing a bikini to Mass, WAY INAPPROPRIATE; wearing a bikini to a beach, appropriate. Maybe if seeing a lady in a bikini leads some to sin in their heart by lusting after them, maybe they should remove themselves from the situation and not blame the person wearing the bikini for their shortcomings.
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LeahTherese
Guest
as you say I think it’s mostly about context: on the beach a bikini is fine and it’s on would-be tempted men to guard their thoughts - just as I might seeing men in only swimming shorts!Caveat: I do not wear bikinis because I am modest and don’t like to wear them PLUS I so do not have the body to wear a bikini
That being said, I do not think it’s my responsibility for others’ sins. By that I mean if me wearing a bikini or any other item causes another to lust, that’s on them, not on me – assuming it’s perfectly appropriate to the setting. Wearing a bikini to Mass, WAY INAPPROPRIATE; wearing a bikini to a beach, appropriate. Maybe if seeing a lady in a bikini leads some to sin in their heart by lusting after them, maybe they should remove themselves from the situation and not blame the person wearing the bikini for their shortcomings.
I don’t think we need to go down a huge puritan road or anything, but i think also as women (or as men for that matter) we also have our own duty to be mindful of the fact that we could inadvertently lead others to sins of lust, and I guess you could say from a sense of charity, try not to ‘make it worse’ by dressing in a way that we know many people find provocative - this goes generally and not just with bikinis.
fashions change and standards of modesty etc change too, that’s fine - but human nature changes much more glacially so we should be aware of that too
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